Reflections On the Past
by Nightcrawlerlover
Summary: Set after the Season 4 episode The Masks of the Shadowkhan. Jade reflects on her adventure of when she was queen of the Ninja Khan, and then writes about it.


**Hey there, my fellow writers and readers! :) Well, here's a new JCA oneshot I cooked up one day as I wanted to write something different. It takes place after the Season 4 episode The Masks of the Shadowkhan (which, in my opinion, is an excellent episode). **

**Disclaimer: Genius John Rogers owns Jackie Chan Adventures. I own the stories I write about the series and the characters.**

Reflections on the Past

_I'm getting out of this high-rise penthouse suite,  
Where we pretend life's rosy and sweet  
I'm going back to the folks that I used to know,  
Where everyone is what they seems to be_

_And these high-class friends that you like to hang around  
When they look my way, they're always looking down  
I'm tired of spending every dime I make  
To finance this way of life I've learned to hate_

_I'm going back to a better class of loser  
This up-town living's really got me down  
I need friends who don't pay their bills on home computers  
And who buy their coffee beans already ground  
You think it's disgraceful that they drink three-dollar wine,  
But a better class of loser suits me fine_

_You say the grass is greener on the other side,  
From where I stand I can't see grass at all  
And the concrete and the steel won't change the way you feel  
It takes more than caviar to have a ball_

_I'm going back to a better class of loser  
This up-town living's really got me down  
I need friends who don't pay their bills on home computers  
And who buy their coffee beans already ground  
You think it's disgraceful that they drink three-dollar wine,  
But a better class of loser suits me fine_

_You think it's disgraceful that they drink three-dollar wine,  
But a better class of loser suits me fine_

-Randy Travis, **Better Class of Losers**

Jade Chan sat at her desk in her room. Her golden-brown eyes were fixed on a pencil lying there in front of her as she tapped her fingers on the desk. The pencil was long, yellow and had a sharp point.

Of course, she was alone in the shop, as Tohru, Jackie and Uncle were out for the day. But she didn't mind; after what seemed like months of exasperating persuasion, her uncle Jackie had finally gotten the point that Jade could take care of herself – and at the age of eleven, too!

Of course, Uncle had also gotten the hint when he said,

"Jade can take care of herself. And she's been doing quite well at it too."

Then a smile crept up Jade's face as she remembered all her adventures.

Her favorite adventure, if she had to pick just one, would be, according to her, the time when she got that tattoo of an evil symbol on her leg and was transformed into the (as Tarakudo put it a few hours ago), "former Queen of the Shadowkhan".

_I'm glad that's over! _she thought.

It was true. As much as she liked being a ruler over those shadow ninjas, it just wasn't the same as being normal.

Moreover, she also knew that Jackie had had a point when he asked,

"If Shendu is your friend, why is he stealing your book?"

She then remembered that friends don't steal from each other.

That was all it took…

****Flashback****

"_Hisss! Traitor!_" _Jade snarled. Shendu took off for the elevator, growling._

"_After him!"_

_The Shadowkhan took off to do just that. Then she looked down and sucked in her breath in horror as she saw her tattoo disappearing slowly._

_Then she yelled out,_

"_NOOOOO!"_

_Finally, she landed on the floor._

_Shendu then turned and called out _"_No!" _

_This stopped the Shadowkhan just as they were about to pounce on him and take the archive back. Then they paused, waiting for an order. Shendu couldn't believe it at first._

_Then, he smiled. _

"_Destroy Chan!_"_ he hissed. _

_They then turned around and went back the way they came. But Jade still had her red eyes, and she quickly called out one last order as Shadowkhan Queen to them._

"_No! Destroy…the book!"_

_Shendu turned and gasped in horror. A lone ninja leaped up, stayed in mid-air, pulled out an explosive in a small test tube-shaped bottle and threw it at the book. The archive disappeared into thin air as it was hit._

"_No!" _

_Shendu looked down in horror and shock at his hands where his archive had been._

In a way, she had won a battle or passed a test of some kind. Jade smiled at the memory. She had somehow knew the demon archive was evil. She had just kept it a secret.

_Jade rubbed her head as she rose to her feet. Her eyes were now back to their normal golden-brown color, and her skin wasn't blue anymore._

"_I have a weird feeling I…did something bad." _

_Jade's tone of voice, as well as her eyes, filled with regret and sadness. _

_Jackie replied,_

"_If you mean getting a tattoo when I told you not to, yes, you did. But if you mean destroying the demon archive…"_

_He looked at Uncle, who nodded, and then turned back to Jade._

"_…we can live with that."_

_He was smiling as he spoke the last few words. _

****End of Flashback****

Jade's smile grew wider as, suddenly feeling inspired, she then began to write in her journal about her favorite adventure.

Yeah, being a Queen of those Shadowkhan ninjas was pretty fun. It was too bad, though, that she couldn't be the Shadowkhan Queen without all the drama and the evil that, in her view, always had to happen first.

However, being normal and going on adventures was much better. For one thing, she got to see all sorts of great places and see so many interesting things. Plus, it seemed that missions were always happening at Section 13. All sorts of cool stuff to look at and find out, as well as mysteries and problems to solve.

And in her mind, it was simply fantastic!

_The clock struck midnight  
And through my sleeping  
I heard a tapping at my door  
I looked but nothing lay in the darkness  
And so I turned inside once more_

_To my amazement  
There stood a raven  
Whose shadow hung above my door  
Then through the silence  
It spoke the one word  
That I shall hear for evermore_

_Nevermore!_

_Thus quoth the raven, nevermore_

_And still the raven remains in my room  
No matter how much I implore  
No words can soothe him  
No prayer remove him  
And I must hear for evermore_

_Quoth the raven, nevermore  
Thus quoth the raven, nevermore  
Quoth the raven, nevermore  
Thus quoth the raven, nevermore_

_Nevermore nevermore nevermore never  
Nevermore nevermore nevermore never  
Nevermore nevermore nevermore never_

_Nevermore nevermore nevermore never  
Nevermore nevermore nevermore never_

_Nevermore nevermore_

_Nevermore…!_

_-_Alan Parsons Project, **The Raven**

**~Finis**


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